14 May 2017

(Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 #44 1994. Cover by Kevin West and Steve Montano. Stolen from Marvel Database.)

(Side note; That cover makes it look like Yondu is wearing one of Donald Trump's neckties as a belt. Alternate joke; That cover makes it look like Yondu's little Yondu wears a necktie.)

Here are some things I found interesting in the world of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc. during the week weeks ending 05142017."A good artist can save a bad script--a good writer can never save a bad artist.Thus, it's a collaboration, usually an even split in effort, despite the protestations of the management representative class, who have been sold a bill of goods by a number of writers, and who have a vested interest in the maintenance of the delusion that comic book artists are tools, unfortunately necessary parasites present to illuminate the writer's concept.Those of us with long term careers, particularly those of us like me, who write their own stuff, draw other people's stuff, and write stuff for other people to draw, know and respect this collaborative balancing act as the genuine reality of our field.Anything else is smoke and bullshit." -Howard Chaykin

Hello sisters and brothers of teh intronets and welcome to another episode of your Other Comics News Parade-O-Links. My name is Shannon and I'll be your host. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers that have ever mothered. You did it. You created life. That's a hell of a thing. Good job.

The comics family lost one of its champions recently. Mr. Tim O'Sheahas left us aftera long and valiant fight with cancer. I only met Tim in person a time or two but he was just the nicest most sincere guy and he was one of the first people in the comics press to give any sort of attention to so many creators in the small press and self publishing. I'm going to take the liberty of stealing from Patrick Dean's facebook post about Tim because it sums up my feelings perfectly; "Tim O'Shea was one of the first people to report our early FLUKE mini-comics shows. He and his son would show up, buy some mini-comics and chat with everyone about whatever projects they were working on. At CBR's Robot 6 blog, he wrote a lot of creator focused articles and news items, with a genuine interest in people outside the larger comic companies. He was one of the first people in comics journalism to acknowledge my work and interviewed me a couple of times, to which I felt really touched that somebody cared. Tim cared about a lot of people. It broke my heart to hear that he was battling the same cancer that took the life of my father eight years ago, and so many other talented people in recent years. From looking at his Facebook support page, By A Landslde, it was obvious that he had a loving family and circle of friends who were with him every step of the way. Tim was a funny, warm and loving fellah. He'll be sorely missed."Tim's facebook page has become a sort of ongoing memorial and is worth the scroll through if you are in facebookland. Rest in peace Tim.

I saw that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 movie. I really enjoyed it. It's a movie with a talking raccoon so there was around a 100,000% chance I was going to like it. There isn't much to talk about with the movie though. The plot is basically a throw away episode of Star Trek you forgot on purpose. It doesn't really mean anything or move the characters at all. The only character with an actual arc is Yondu. Drax is really funny but the movie is about Yondu. The stuff with Star-Lord's father is just an excuse for a movie and not really any kind of movie that matters. You don't care who his dad was/is because we've never seen this character before. There is no emotional weight to the revelation. It's just, hey Pete, I'm your dad, well... okay then. And none of that matters because the reason these movies work is because they have likable performers playing colorful characters in front of a background inspired by some of the best creative minds of the past 100 years. You can't screw that up. The only way these things can fail is if they come in over budget. I thought the movie looked great. Certainly the best looking Marvel/Disney movie so far. I have never ever used drugs for recreational purposes because I am an American and that is illegal but, I'm gonna assume that if tripping balls and rolling into the movie theater is your deal then you would have liked this one. The soundtrack was fun. Could have used a few more rockers but it is of course your late 70s early 80s mom's favorite jams so they all had to fit that theme. I feel like it could have used at least one song by the Statler Brothers.

I like to take a moment to acknowledge the creators whenever one of these big comics movies come out;

The Guardians of the Galaxy were created by Arnold Drake and Gene Colan

Give some credit as well to Jim Starlin and Bill Mantlo for creating several of the characters and themes as well as Jim Valentino for the 90s version of the team and to Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning for the more recent version of the team that re-launched in 2008. And don't forget Jack Kirby for being the driving force behind the look and feel of the Galaxy in which the Guardians exists.

Star-Lord created by Steve Englehart and Steve Gan.

Gamora created by Jim Starlin.

Drax created by Jim Starlin.

Groot created by Jack Kirby, Larry Leiber, Dick Ayers and Stan Lee.

Rocket Raccoon created by Bill Mantlo and Kieth Giffen.

Yondu created by Arnold Drake and Gene Colan.

Nebula created by Roger Stern and John Buscema.

Mantis created by Steve Englehart and Don Heck.

Stakar Ogord (Starhawk) created by Steve Gerber and Sal Buscema.

Ego the Living Planet created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee.

Ayesha/Kismet/Her created by Len Wein, David Kraft, and Herb Trimpe.

Taserface created by Jim Valentino.

Howard the Duck created by Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik.

Cosmo the Spacedog created by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning

Charlie-27 created by Arnold Drake and Gene Colan.

Martinex created by Arnold Drake and Gene Colan.

Aleta Ogord created by Steve Gerber and Sal Buscema.

Krugar created by Jim Valentino.

Adam Warlock created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee

The Grandmaster created by Roy Thomas and Sal Buscema

The Kree created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee

Mainframe created by Jim Velentino and Herb Trimpe. (Sort of? Thier version is kind of a version of Vision in the future so... it's complicated.)

The Celestials created by Jack Kirby.

The Sovereign are arguably based on the what would be creations of the Enclave which were created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. The movie version seems to go back to Ayesha/Kismet/Her who was created by Len Win, David Kraft and Herb Trimpe. It's complicated.

The Watchers created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee.

The Ravagers as seen with Stakar Ogord (Sylvester Stalone's character) are basically the original Guardians of the Galaxy so credit Arnold Drake and Gene Colan. However... they were not called Ravagers until they showed up more recently (I think) so credit that to Sam Humphries and Javier Garron. (Maybe?) But the idea of the Ravagers as bunch of space pirates may really just have to be credited to James Gunn and the movies. Also complicated.

Stan Lee created by Jack and Celia Lieber.

David Hasselhoff created by Joseph and Delores Hasselhoff.

Fluke happened since our last "episode". I went. A great time was had. By me. I'm the one that had the great time. Perhaps others had a great time as well. I don't know for sure. I'm not a telepath and I'm kind of self-centered so I don't always catch on to how great or not other people's times are. I'm gonna talk more about Fluke and about how Patrick Dean's cat just won't stop drinking out of the dogs' bowl no matter how many times it is explained to her but I'm not gonna tell that story right now. I'm going to tell that story in a different post. Hang in there.

Another thing that happened was Free Comic Book Day, also known as FCBD, also known to shoplifters as Saturday. I went to Cavalier Comics in Wise VA go get my FCBD on. Cavalier has been my main store for the past several years since I moved back to the Clinch Valley. This was the store's first FCBD in a new larger location and it seems to have been one of their best years ever. The checkout line was probably the longest I've seen there. My pal Jeremy Massie was there with his new comic Amazing Age. It is part of Alterna's new line of monthlies. I got all the first issues and enjoyed them especially since they only cost $1.50. Love the newsprint. Amazing Age's colors looked really great on that newsprint. Get yourself a copy before they all sell out. I have not had a chance to read through all of the FCBD offerings but the X-O Manowar comic was good. I'm excited as always about the 2000 AD comic. My kids were pretty happy with the selection of books they picked out.

Val D'Orazio read Secret Empire 1 so we didn't have to. I read the Secret Empire FCBD offering and was put to sleep by the color pallet.

Side note, I fail to understand how anything can be 10 years old. I'm a mental eight year old and just can't deal with things like time and change.

And finally... Francis doesn't care what the slime does as long as he gets paid.

Remember pals, life is hard. Never stop running unless it's to pick up a friend. Read comics and chew Glorp every day and you'll keep on livin' until you're dead.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. I write comics. Do you make comics? Maybe you should hire me to write comics. p.p.s Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.p.p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.p.p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.p.p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.p.p.p.p.p.p.s. Yeah, I do Instagram too. I guess it's a law or something.

28 April 2017

Here are some things I found interesting in the world of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc. during the week ending 04282017."The takeaway here, as I see it, as that there is no lack of customers for periodical comics, and there’s no lack of passion and energy for the format, and that there is no indication that “casual” readers won’t be interested in purchasing periodical comics (A big chunk of those “Saga” readers, like the “Sandman” wave that happened two decades before, are not normal and traditional “Wednesday Warriors”, yet there are still stoked to buy periodical comics!) – but that Marvel (and DC, largely) have harmed their own sales and chased their own customers away. There’s a problem when I sell 160 “Saga” and 16 copies of “ASM”… but this is problem of Marvel’s making over the accumulation of time." -Brian Hibbs.

Guys guys guys guys guys guys guys guys guys!!! The world is spinning at 1000 miles per hour and we are all going to die! The future's so bright I gotta wear a radiation suit! Doomed! Doomed! What can save us? Comics? Don't be ridiculous. Of course not. Nothing will save us. There is nothing left to do but, ya know, whatever you feel like doing I guess. Me? I'm going to go to the Fluke Mini-Comics and Zine Festival in Athens GA this Saturday, April 29th. It's going to be great. Robert Newsome, Patrick Dean and other people will be there. Other people! Come find my table. I probably won't be at said table. I'll be walking around blabbing my mouth off about professional wresting or guitars or some other nonsense but that's okay. Just leave a huge stack of cash on my table and take whatever you want. It's gonna be great I tells ya. I can't wait to hear about how great you think I am. Thanks in advance!

Hey. Are you super depressed about the world and clinging to comics as your chance for escape and/or inspiration? Well good news, comics are super depressing too! One of the things about comics currently giving me the sweet sweet butt hurt is Marvel's new "Digital Edition" policy. To explain why this bothers me so much let's go back to my tender youth, way back to the year 2012 when the first The Avengers movie was on the big screen and the Avengers vs X-Men (AvsX) miniseries was on the comics stands. At that point about the only mainstream comic I was reading was Savage Dragon but my daughter was just getting into comics. She liked The Avengers movie ans she loved old X-Men comics so we bought AvsX. It came with something that was new to me, the Digital Edition codes. You could redeem these codes and read the comic you bought online or on your cell pad pod phone. You could also link your Marvel account up with a Comixology account and read them in the Comixology app. It was around this time that the family first got cell pad pod phones so my daughter and I really dove into the Comixology app thanks to the digital codes. The best thing was that I could buy the paper comic (because I'm an old man who loves paper) but my kid could read the same comic digitally without me buying two copies. This. THIS. THIS MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE PREVIOUS TEN YEARS got me back into going to the comic shop, starting back a "pull list" and buying ongoing Wednesday floppy comics again. My daughter and I bought stacks of them. And thanks to the digital codes we could read them anywhere any time. And if the last comic we read made us curious about something we could pull up related issues on the Comixology app and buy those too! (You can't do that anymore by the way. Amazon killed the store feature in the Comixology app because they hate making money or something. Again, always be super depressed.) So yeah, it was good times. It was a brilliant offering from Marvel and I spent years yelling at other publishers to follow suit. Only Dark Horse tried. DC offered a version where the comic with a digital code costed more. That was stupid and awful and embarrassing for everyone. But the Marvel deal was good and like all good things some stupid jerks would eventually decide to make it go away. Recently Marvel has replaced their Digital Editions with a digital code where YOU DO NOT GET THE COMIC YOU PAID FOR. Under the previous system, if you bought five Marvel comics in one week you got a code for each of those five comics you paid for. Now, you do not get the comic you paid for. Instead each week's shipment of Marvel comics all have the same three promotional comics. So, if you bought five Marvel comics, you just got three digital comics, none of which are the comic you paid for. Let me say that part again; in the past, if you bought 100 Marvel comics you got 100 digital comics. Today, if you buy 100 Marvel comics in one week you get three digital comics. The digital comics in question are generally the first issue of something that has recently been collected in a trade paperback. So these comics are not a promotional tool for you to buy more digital comics, or to return to your comics shop and add a comic to your "pull list". These are comics promoting you to by a trade paperback. Or, to put it another way, if you are a regular Marvel customer, these are comics you already own. This my friends, is a situation I refer to as total bullshit. So, here's the thing; Marvel, I love you. I love your nutts. You are a big part of my life. For years and years. Stop making it so hard to be your customer.

Again with the Marvel part 3; Every time I read an article like this it occurs to me that we are just one Disney executive saying, "Wait, we still publish paper comic books?" on a conference call away from the whole freaking business being tossed into the crapper or the top characters licensed out to the highest bidder. A publisher that is not Marvel now publishes the Frozen comics. If Marvel can't be trusted to make money off the Frozen phenomenon why would you trust them to be able to make any money off Ant-Man or Doctor Strange? Because they did six decades ago? Good luck with that answer on the next investors call.

Also, FDR Democrat Steve Rogers forever.

Can there still be good news in comics? Can there still be something to get excited about? Yes. Yes there can. I'm excited about Alterna Comics' new line of newsprint comics for several reasons. For one thing, they're gonna be super cheap with a $1.50 cover price. And one of the series, Amazing Age, is created by pals Jeremy Massie and Matthew David Smith. I checked out that comic in its original webcomic form and liked it a lot. Those bros are the solidest of bros so I'm excited for what I believe is going to be a breakout book appealing to a new audience that may have missed their other stuff. And, arguably most importantly, Smith has confirmed that the newsprint in his comp copies smells great. The books start rolling out next week. I'm not familiar with many of the other creators but at $1.50 I'm sure to check them out.

Hey. Do you like comics? Do you like guitars? Do you like comics that are guitars? I recently built a Stratocaster using the Carmine Infantino drawn issues 14 and 15 of the original Star Wars comics. It's probably the coolest guitar on Earth. Maybe you wanna check it out.

Ain't no party like a wizard battle party cause a wizard battle party don't stop until one of them dies and the other wizard creates a hyper sigil making people focus on the number of rapes in the other wizard's comics instead of their valuable contributions to the medium.

And finally... Francis gave up candy for your sins.

Remember pals, life is hard. Never stop running unless it's to pick up a friend. Read comics and chew Glorp every day and you'll keep on livin' until you're dead.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. I write comics. Do you make comics? Maybe you should hire me to write comics. p.p.s Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.p.p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.p.p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.p.p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.p.p.p.p.p.p.s. Yeah, I do Instagram too. I guess it's a law or something.

24 March 2017

Hey you. How's it going? You busy this weekend? Maybe you should go to the SC Comicon in Greenville, South Carolina. A lot of my favorite people are going to be there. Also, there will be comics there. You like comics right? I've never been to this show but I hear it's really great. Every year I say to myself, stop being such an a-hole and go to SC Comicon. And then I fail. I won't be there this year because I'm going to take my kids to see adults in minimal clothing sweat on each other. Professionally! But, I will be there in spirit and also on paper as a new gag comic I drew will be in Comic Stars #6 debuting at the table of our most beloved The Dollar Bin. The comic should be rad. It has a cover by Patrick Dean. Ya'll know Patrick Dean right? He's kinda the best.

So yeah, go to Greenville and buy comics. Tell Neal Adams that I said that Superman miniseries he did last year was bonkers. You like it. You love it. You want more of it.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. I write comics. Do you make comics? Maybe you should hire me to write comics. p.p.s Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.p.p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.p.p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.p.p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.p.p.p.p.p.p.s. Yeah, I do Instagram too. I guess it's a law or something.

29 January 2017

Here are some things I found interesting in the world of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc. during the week ending 01292017.

"And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave." - President Ronald Reagan

Hello sisters and brothers of teh intronets and welcome to another episode of your Other Comics News Parade-O-Links. My name is Shannon and I'll be your host. Happy Chinese New Year. To quote the last prophet of the 90s Keanu Reeves, "whoa". What a week huh? Just a week ago when we last spoke we had just seen the inauguration of a new President in these United States and inspiring marches all around the world. Since then, every day has been a series of events that were never supposed to be possible. There are millions of Americans and millions and millions around the world right now who are scared. Their lives are uncertain. Their future is uncertain. I have my own fears of course. Everything is fragile. A politician or an executive I've never met could end my livelihood with the stroke of a pen. But I'm a white man in America so my fears are those of inconvenience and folly compared to those of different birth country, skin tone or religion. I don't know much about anything but here is what I know about Muslims. Here is what I know about refugees. For about four years my next door neighbors were a Muslim family. They were refugees from Bosnia. If you walked by their house you wouldn't have known they were Muslim. The father was an auto mechanic. You'd see him outside working on cars or playing with his kids. I thought he was Italian at first. The mother was a brunette. She was quite but polite and generous. Most of my interaction was with the kids. They were always outside playing and my daughter played with them all the time. The kids had blond hair and blue eyes. They could have passed for my kid's siblings. They had a trampoline and my daughter would want to bounce with them every day. If you were around enough you'd begin to notice the accent and that the parents spoke to the children in Bosnian. You'd hear the kids playing games counting in Bosnian. You'd notice that they had a pit for roasting lamb. If you were around long enough to notice the lamb pit you'd probably be invited over to enjoy the feast. They were generous beyond measure. If they were eating popsicles you had a popsicle. If the father and his cousins were drinking beer you had a beer. The father fixed my car for free multiple times. He loaned me tools. He loaned me his lawnmower. They were as good neighbors as I've ever know. One time we were over for dinner at their house. I think it was a holiday for them. They had a lot of family over. But, then again, it was like that every Sunday there. They served lamb, beers and strong Turkish coffee. They had a huge gold embossed painting of Mecca on the wall in the dining room. I asked the father if he had ever been there. He laughed. He said that no, he had never been because he could not give up his beer. This was a man, an auto mechanic who worked hard for his family. He loved God and he loved beer. What's more American than that? Picture him in your mind. Out in his yard after a long day of work at the garage working on another car either for extra money or as a favor to a friend. He's got his blue mechanic's shirt on. It's untucked and his belly shows a little. The kids are playing in the back yard. The mother comes out onto the front porch to call them all in for super. There he is drinking his beer and taking care of his family. The American Dream. And he was a Muslim refugee.

Look, I'm super liberal but the New York Times and the UN can stick it up their asses. Will out of touch adults always make bad decisions that belittle and alienate the people they need most and should serve most? Probably.

Speaking of Robert Newsome, Athen Georgia's finest minicomics and zine fest had its registration yesterday and sold out fast. So, I mean, I guess this news post is worthless to all you longstapler jockeys that might want a table but there's no reason every dang one of us can't go to Fluke on April 29th and have a fine time.

The Dollar Bin podcast is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. This week's podcast features America's most hugable cartoonist J. Chris Campbell interviewing Adam. The whole world is upside down I tell's ya.

Remember pals, life is hard. Never stop running unless it's to pick up a friend. Read comics and chew Glorp every day and you'll keep on livin' until you're dead.

Your best pal ever,

Shannon Smith

p.s. I write comics. Do you make comics? Maybe you should hire me to write comics. p.p.s Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.p.p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.p.p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.p.p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.p.p.p.p.p.p.s. Yeah, I do Instagram too. I guess it's a law or something.

23 January 2017

Here are some things I found interesting in the world of minicomics, comic books, graphic novels, small press, self publishing, zines, webcomics, cartoons, digital comics, other, etc. during the week weeks ending 01232017.

"Brutal. The guy likes being the top of the heap and he likes staying there. He’d be an all-term president and probably serve as vice president and most of the cabinet too. Except secretary of agriculture. Bane has no interest in where his food comes from. Only that it’s hit when it arrives. Or someone will pay." -Chuck Dixon on what President Bane would be like.

Hello sisters and brothers of teh intronets and welcome to another episode of your Other Comics News Parade-O-Links. My name is Shannon and I'll be your host. Last week was pretty crazy huh? But here we are. We made it. Most of us. Saturday was an inspiring day. Millions of people around the world making their voices heard. Millions standing together. I didn't march anywhere. I took care of my two daughters though so that has to count for something right? I'm not a woman (spoiler) but I am a dad and I tell you this, kids notice. Kids notice when women or minorities create their favorite comic books, cartoons, music, movies and video games. They notice when people stand up for themselves or others or for what they believe in. They notice when people march for a cause. They notice and it shapes their reality. The reality where it wasn't impossible no longer exists the second they see the one where it is possible. Much thanks to all of those that fight the good fight. It's bigger than you know.

Lots of talk this week about "breaking into comics". I guess everyone on twitter had the same new year's resolution to finally get their act together and get paid to make comics. There were some good tips in there and some decent jokes. I recommend Robert Venditti's testimony on the subject. I don't know how to group tweets together or whatever but you can find his story of how he "broke into comics" on his twitter feed. He has what I think is an ideal comics career; mainstream work with multiple publishers as well as creator owned work. Read his story for yourself but the short version of how he built that career is that he 1) worked hard and 2) he put himself and his work in physical proximity to world of publishing. You might make it with either one of those two things but I doubt you make it without doing both. Especially the work. Even if you get lucky, and fool your way in, without the work, it will catch up to you.

The Dollar Bin's Adam Daughhetee and company are making a documentary on comics creators that will include Laura Martin, Sanford Greene, Van Jensen, Joey Weiser, Andy Runton and others. The production blog has started here.

Now you can easily make sure that everyone you know is aware of your feelings about Josh Latta.

You comics folk are all reading Grant Morrison's The Savage Sword of Jesus Christ in Heavy Metal magazine right?

Bane creators support Trump. I'm pretty sure Chuck Dixon has supported all the Republican presidents. I support Chuck Dixon Punisher and Batman comics but was kinda bummed out by Chuck Dixon Green Arrow comics. I vote against Chuck Dixon Green Arrow comics.